Policy Analysis

On April 27, the State Department publicly released its annual report on global terrorism trends, Country Reports on Terrorism 2004 ( read a PDF of the full report). Previously called Patterns of Global Terrorism, the renamed report has generated considerable controversy for the second year in a row, again centered

Syria's Muslim Brotherhood - banned for nearly 25 years - has been increasingly vocal recently in its criticism of the regime of President Bashar Assad. Earlier this month, for example, it demanded the organization of free elections, cancellation of the state of emergency and dismantlement of special courts, warning that

The United States needs to do more to consolidate the cease-fire between Israelis and Palestinians and help coordinate a pullout from Gaza or else the current narrow window of opportunity, characterized by the leadership potential of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the Israeli plan for disengagement from Gaza, may

On April 25, President George W. Bush and Crown Prince Abdullah, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, held a three-hour meeting in Crawford, Texas, producing a joint statement in which both leaders agreed “to forge a new relationship” between the two countries. Both sides reportedly saw the meeting as

Testimony before the Joint Hearing of the House Committee on International Relations, Subcommittee on Europe and Emerging Threats INTRODUCTION The rise of global jihadist movements in Europe is alarming, not only because of the threat such movements pose to our European allies but because Europe has served as a launching

On May 1–2, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Israel. Erdogan’s trip is important since it follows harsh criticism of Israel’s policies in the Palestinian territories (see “Where Goes the Turkish-Israeli Relationship?” by this author in Middle East Quarterly, fall 2004). Turkish-Israeli relations, which flourished in the 1990s

On April 25, 2005, Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia will meet with President George W. Bush in Crawford, Texas. The de facto ruler of the world’s largest oil exporter flies in from Morocco, where he has been vacationing after a three-day visit to France. While President Bush is expected

On April 14, 2005, Ambassador Ali Tuygan, Turkish undersecretary of foreign affairs, addressed The Washington Institute’s Special Policy Forum. Ambassador Tuygan served as deputy undersecretary for bilateral political affairs at the Turkish foreign ministry between 2001 and 2004. Prior to that, he served as Turkish ambassador to Greece, Saudi Arabia

After several months of negotiation between Jordanian and Israeli officials, the Israeli cabinet voted unanimously on Sunday to release nine Jordanian prisoners. According to Jordan's foreign ministry, seven of the nine were released today. Although the Jordanian government welcomed this move as a gesture intended to strengthen bilateral relations, the

On April 7, 2005, Dennis Ross, Michael Herzog, and David Makovsky addressed The Washington Institute’s Special Policy Forum. Ambassador Ross is the Institute’s counselor and Ziegler distinguished fellow, former U.S. Middle East peace envoy, and author of The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace

Disengagement is the most important step Israel can take at this time to secure its own future; however, disengagement poses a unique challenge, namely, how to address the emotional and practical difficulties in removing settlers from Gaza and the West Bank. The Knesset's recent rejection of a referendum bill to

Turkish-US relations are at a low point. In Turkey, literally every Turk feels resentful of America's Middle East policies, and Ankara is reaching out to US foes Syria and Iran. An outgoing US ambassador to Ankara may not be replaced immediately when the time comes in the summer, a sure

Later this week, the U.S. Senate is expected to confirm John Negroponte, President George W. Bush’s nominee for the newly created position of director of national intelligence. In this new position, Negroponte will be responsible for managing the 15 agencies comprising the U.S. intelligence community. Despite having served both as

This Foreign Affairs article is based on David Makovsky's Engagement through Disengagement: Gaza and the Potential for Renewed Israeli-Palestinian Peacemaking (The Washington Institute, 2005). View a detailed map of the Gaza Strip, including Israeli settlements, Palestinian communities, IDF security zones, Egypt-Israel border buffer zone, checkpoints, and roads. After four and

With upcoming visits by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to see President Bush, it is a good time to take stock of the Israeli-Palestinian situation. If my recent discussions in Jerusalem, Ramallah, and Gaza are any indication, the current trends are not encouraging. While Sharon

One way to judge the success of the upcoming Bush-Sharon summit in Crawford is by examining whether it leads to a meeting of the minds and greater clarity on four pivotal Israeli-Palestinian issues: the terms of the current ceasefire; West Bank settlement activity; the timing of, and eligibility rules for

The fast and steady deterioration of the French-U.S. relationship has recently entered an equally swift upturn. The Bush administration, reelected by a majority vote in 2004, has not changed the substance of its foreign policy. Given a similarly unvarying stance by France, no shift of policy by either nation has

When Turkey's Parliament on March 1, 2003 failed to approve the Bush Administration's request for a “northern front” against Iraq, it became clear that the Iraq War would prove a watershed in U.S. - Turkish strategic partnership. Left unanswered at the time were fundamental questions of how relations would develop

King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein, decendant of the Prophet Muhammad, is the fourth ruler of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the great-grandson of his namesake, the kingdom’s founder. Born on January 30, 1962, to King Hussein’s second wife, the British-born Princess Muna, he is the eldest of Hussein’s

Next to the Middle East lies another region with a large Muslim population and some acute problems with Islamist radicalism: the Caucasus. Aware of the danger that instability in the Caucasus (particularly since the dissolution of the Soviet Union) could spill over into the Middle East, Israel has actively sought